Originally the Art of Joel Adams blog, I had at one point posted so much to the blog to promote Carrie Leigh's NUDE magazine, I suggested that it become the Official blog to the magazine.. After many wonderful years as such, the blog has come back to me. My Art site is currently being revamped and when it is done, I will be moving all blogs over to that site... Enjoy

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Four years ago Borders Books in Hollywood held a Launch Party for Carrie Leigh's NUDE magazine. This event put us on the map. As we bid a fond farewell to the American bookstore institution, we want readers to know we have been in the process of reinventing NUDE.

Even American institutions must change with the times or die; unfortunately, Borders did not change. Sadly, Borders is liquidating all their stores. Barnes & Noble has already closed over 1,000 stores in the past few years but remains in business due to the NOOK. Financial statements from the first quarter of 2011 reflect 75 percent of revenue came from NOOK sales.

As we have spent the past four years creating a market for our publication, we now find the existing delivery system, i.e., the major bookstore chains, is quickly becoming extinct. As we mentioned a couple months ago, our present distribution contract will expire this month. Look for more on this in another post.

We have taken some time to consider all options and to weigh where the future of NUDE should take us. Stay tuned. A new generation of NUDE is in the works and will include a choice of options for our subscribers.

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

From now on, when you click on a copyrighted picture on this blog, you will be taken on a visit to the NUDE website. No more free downloads. It came to our attention yesterday that copyrighted images from this blog has ended up on pay sites.

"I don't mind sharing my art," Carrie said. "I have not previously protected it from downloads as I don't mind someone showing it with proper credit. But when my art is stolen and sold on Internet pay sites without my consent, it hurts everything I have worked for. It hurts me and my models when this happens."

As the glut of pirated music and images drives legitimate sources out of business, it concerns us to learn where images go that are posted on not-for-profit blogs. Our stat counters show every download, and sometimes a visitor comes and downloads hundreds of images. For what purpose? Some create electronic portfolios for their own use, but now we have proof some of the downloads are pirated images to be used for commercial purposes without even a credit to the artist or artists.

The website of the Recording Industry of America says, "Copyright law protects the value of creative work. When you make unauthorized copies of someone’s creative work, you are taking something of value from the owner without his or her permission." Not only is this a clear breach of ethics; it violates U.S. law. Criminal penalties can run up to five years in prison and/or $250,000 in fines, even if you didn’t don't download music and images for monetary or financial or commercial gain.

According to the site:

Online music theft is "commonly known as piracy, but that’s too benign of a term to adequately describe the toll that music theft takes on the enormous cast of industry players working behind the scenes to bring music to your ears. That cast includes songwriters, recording artists, audio engineers, computer technicians, talent scouts and marketing specialists, producers, publishers and countless others.

"While downloading one song may not feel that serious of a crime, the accumulative impact of millions of songs downloaded illegally – and without any compensation to all the people who helped to create that song and bring it to fans – is devastating. One credible study by the Institute for Policy Innovation pegs the ANNUAL harm at $12.5 billion dollars in losses to the U.S. economy as well as more than 70,000 lost jobs and $2 billion in lost wages to American workers."

"Distributing unlawful copies of a copyrighted work violates the copyright owner’s distribution right and, as a result, constitutes copyright infringement. . . . . [Unlawful distribution occurs where] [f]iles of [copyrighted] information are stored in the central system, and subscribers may either ‘download’ information into their[computers] or ‘upload’ information from their home units into the central files . . . ."

So there is no need to question whether online theft of copyrighted images is indeed art theft. It is, and in the United States it is a felony to steal art. Within hours of notifying an Arizona-based pay site that they were in violation of U.S. copyright law, the site removed artwork pirated from Carrie Leigh that initially appeared in print in Carrie Leigh's NUDE magazine and was later published on the official blog.

I don't mind visitor downloads of work for personal use. But it is another story with the pay site pirates who take our work for commercial purposes and make money on it without even crediting the photographer. There are also those who pass off others' work as their own work. Piracy is art theft, and it is unethical and illegal and hurtful to all of us, each and every artist, when it occurs.

I realize some will shrug and say, "Then don't post your work online." That's like saying, "If you don't want to be hit by a drunk driver, stay at home and don't go out on the highway." This is, after all, the Information Superhighway.

Friday, May 13, 2011

The Duchess of Cambridge's family should not have upset the Queen with their embarrassing photographs of James and Pippa. These images of the Royal relatives just this week appeared on the Internet in the United States in various states of undress.

Carrie Leigh’s NUDE magazine exposed the Royal Family long before the Royals exposed themselves. The Queen was home and didn't say a word. The nude was photographed in front of Buckingham Palace with the police in the background watching.

Why is everyone up in arms now?

The Spring 2010 issue of Carrie Leigh's NUDE magazine features an exhibit of female nudes shot on Royal Ground by London photographer Jan Murphy as a statement of artistic freedom. Ms. Murphy shows her nude model wearing white gloves for presentation to the Queen, who was inside the Palace at the time as the flag is flying.

According to Carrie Leigh, "I wish I had the opportunity to do what Jan Murphy did. It makes quite a statement to shoot nudes with a world landmark like Buckingham Palace as a backdrop."

In conjunction with Carrie Leigh's NUDE, Murphy and her nude models elected to shoot at
some of London's historic sites, including Buckingham Palace as the Royal Flag flew, the Tate Museum of Art, and the GLA building.

Long before all this, Queen Victoria had a passion for nude art that is now the subject of Victoria & Albert: Art & Love, an exhibit at The Queen’s Gallery in Buckingham Palace that opened March 19.

The Spring 2010 issue of Carrie Leigh's NUDE is available for sale here. Order your Royal Nudes today!

Saturday, May 7, 2011

Once I was a model who had the opportunity to work with some great photographers. Now I am a photographer who has the opportunity to work with great models. When I was a model I loved to be published in print; now I am a print publisher. Once I was single; now I am married with children.

My history reflects change, but one thing that has never changed is that I have one and only one mother.
The common denominator among everyone in the world is that we all have a mother. Times change, and people change, but today is the day to spend time with your mother or, if you can't be with her, reflect on what she means to you.

Friday, April 15, 2011

As everyone knows, the publishing and book store world is suffering extremely hard times and only the strong will survive. Our solution was to terminate our existing distribution contract and to sign with a larger, more financially secure company.

In the process of our change we discovered, in our distributor's warehouse, small numbers of past issues of Carrie Leigh's NUDE. As these are only available on e-bay and Amazon for extremely high prices by those looking to make a large profit on the collectable factor, we have decided to sell these issues in our store. We have priced them according to quantity available. All are in mint condition and still shrink wrapped.

And best news of all! We have added a National and International Shopping Cart to help you save on the shipping!

Friday, April 1, 2011

Today is my husband Gary's birthday, and I would like to recognize the wonderful things he has done in this time for civil rights, the fine art world, and his family. As someone who enjoys working behind the scenes, he seldom steps forward to allow us to recognize his achievements. On this special day, I want to acknowledge Gary as a great humanitarian who has tirelessly served others.

Happy Birthday, Gary, I love you and appreciate everything you have done and everything you do so very much.